Aftermath
by Things-YouLove
Summary: It's been seven years since that faithful day, the day that still keeps Cat up at night, but when news that the man responsible is set to be released it changes everything, will Cat seek revenge? and if she does, will there be consequences? *Sequel to Subliminal Paradise*
1. Seven Years Later

**Guess who's back? :)**

**First of all, I should say this story is a sequel to "Subliminal Paradise" so if you haven't read that yet, you can do right here s/9645541/1/Subliminal-Paradise **

**Again thank you to those that read and reviewed the story, it meant a whole lot to me**

**I took some time to really think about a sequel here, I didn't want to rush it and end up with it being bad**

**So without further ado, lets begin**

* * *

**Aftermath**

"Mummy!" a small child shouted, beaming with a smile at the sight of her mother, she ran toward her immediately, her mother got down on one knee to give the girl a hug, she wrapped her arms around her daughter tightly, her daughter doing exactly the same.

"How was your first day sweetie?" She asked, a glimmer of pride clearly evident in her beautiful brown eyes, her daughter looked up at her, eyes almost identical to her mothers, gleaming with joy.

"It was so good!" she shouted, her mother couldn't help smiling, they grow up so fast.

"Should we go home and see daddy then?" she asked to which the child nodded, "okay, lets go" she stood up and put her hand out for her daughter to hold, and the pair walked to the car, without a care in the world.

Along the way, the car came to a stop, "mummy why did we stop?" there wasn't an answer, her mother was too busy staring out the window at something, "mummy?" she snapped out of her daydream, and quickly reached into the back seat to grab the fresh bouquet of roses, before opening the door.

"Wait here a minute sweetheart, mummy will be right back" the child looked up with a little bit of fear in her eyes, she didn't want to be left alone, "can't I come with you mummy?" the fear was evident in her voice, but she had to go alone, "Its okay, mummy will be right over there, you'll see me from the window".

The young girl thought about it for a minute, before nodding her head, "okay"

"I'll be right back baby I promise" and she shut the car door, and locked it, before walking on her way, she didn't stop once, she knew exactly where she was going, she finally came to a stop, still in sight of the car, as promised to her daughter, she stepped forward, and placed the roses nicely.

"She's growing up so fast..." she started off, reading the inscription

**Tori Vega**

**1993 - 2010**

**A beloved daughter, sister, and friend**

**Taken at only 17 years old, far too soon**

**We will always remember you**

**And we will always love you **

"She reminds me an awful lot of you, you know..." she used her sleeve to wipe her eyes quickly, feeling the inevitable tears coming, "I wish you could see her, you two would get on so well I just know it... she's just like her aunty Tori"

The woman wiped her eyes again, before getting down on one knee, she reached out and ran her finger over the name carved in stone.

"I miss you"

* * *

"Mummy are you okay?"

"I'm fine sweetie" she felt her daughter reach out and take hold of her hand, catching her attention, "but you're crying?"

"Sometimes mummy cries, its how she makes herself feel better" she turned the car key and set off again, heading home.

When they finally got there, the pair got out and went to the front door, she turned the key and opened it, letting her daughter go in first.

She ran in quickly, "daddy!" she shouted, running to find him in the kitchen, he lifted her in his arms and gave her a kiss and a hug, "hey gorgeous, how was your first day at school?" he asked, looking at the doorway, wondering why she seemed to come in alone.

"Really good!" she shouted, another huge smile beaming on her face, "where's mummy?" he asked, "she's here, but she was sad"

She finally walked into the kitchen, after taking off her jacket and her shoes, "hey" she smiled, walking over to give him a kiss.

He put their daughter down and let her run off to play, "Cat, she said you were sad again" he turned to face her, concern in his voice.

"It's been seven years..." she started, resting her elbows on the counter and putting her face in her hands, "seven years since she died"

He walked over, and hugged her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder, "Cat, I know you miss her, its okay"

She turned around to face him, his arms still around her waist, "Rick, its been seven years though, how can I still be so upset over something that happened seven years ago?" she asked herself in a desperate attempt to convince herself it was time to move on.

"Its okay that your upset, she was your best friend, and she'd have been a huge part in our lives, and our daughters"

Cat nodded slightly, "I know you miss her, and after all the stories you've told me, I miss her too, but I bet you she's up there right now, looking down on you, just as she has done every day for the past seven years, she wouldn't want to see you upset"

"I suppose you're right" she let out a little bit of a sigh, "it's just everytime I go to visit her grave I get reminded of the day it happened, I still remember it clearly, I still have that same dream, having to watch her die over and over again, why couldn't it be me instead?" Cat's volume had increased to the point where she was almost shouting, Rick put his hands up on her cheeks, using his thumbs to wipe Cat's tears as they ran down her cheeks.

"It'll be okay" he pulled her close to him and put his arms around her, hugging her tight, she did exactly the same, sobbing into his chest.

* * *

"Tori dinners ready!" Cat shouted

Her daughter excitedly ran into the kitchen, but she couldn't reach the tall chairs at the kitchen counter, Cat giggled a little, "need a hand?" she asked, lifting her daughter up to sit her in the chair.

"Thank you mummy" she smiled, "you're welcome sweetie" Cat walked back around to the other side of the counter to get the food, putting a plate down for her, and one for her daughter.

"Where's dad?" she asked, noticing he wasn't there, "Oh, daddy just had to go out, he'll be back soon" Cat explained.

"Why don't you come and sit down mum?" she asked another question, looking at Cat who was standing on the other side of the counter, eating her food.

"Because this way, I can make sure you eat all your food" she teased, "including your veggies" she tapped her daughters nose and few times, to which she scrunched her nose at, making Cat laugh.

A little while later, both Cat and her daughter Tori had finished their food, Cat was cleaning the dishes in the kitchen and Tori was watching tv in the front room, once Cat was done she walked into the front room, looking at the time, 7:45.

"Come on its time for bed" but when Cat looked down at the chair, Tori was already sound asleep, "awww" Cat walked over and picked her up, cradling her in her arms, she carried her upstairs and into her bedroom.

"Here we go" Cat put her down in bed and pulled the cover over her, she was still fast asleep, once she fell asleep, it would take a lot to wake her up again, just like how Tori used to be.

Cat leant forward and kissed her daughters forehead, "goodnight beautiful, sweet dreams" she walked out, and shut the door behind her.

When she got down the stairs, she noticed Rick was back, she went to the kitchen where he was, along with Beck, Jade, Andre, and two police officers.

"What's going on?" Cat asked, looking at each of them.

"Sit down Cat" Andre signalled the table in the center of the room.

Rick handed her a glass of water, and everything fell silent.

"What's this about?" Cat asked, curious as to why no one was saying anything.

"Miss Valentine" one of the police officers started, sitting down across the table from Cat.

"There's something we need to tell you"

Cat waited anxiously for him to continue.

"Your father was released from prison this morning"

* * *

**Okay thats all for the first chapter :)**

**I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know down below if you did :)**


	2. Reaction

**Hey :) **

**I'm a bit bored waiting for the football (that's soccer to those from America) so I figured I'd do something to pass the time while I wait**

**What better than writing a new chapter here**

**Thank you to those that read, and reviewed, much appreciated :)**

* * *

**Aftermath**

"Your father was released from prison this morning"

"Your father"

"Released"

"This morning"

"Father"

"Released"

"Father"

Cat's mind was sent spiralling back to that day, they day it had all happened, the day she lost her best friend, the day she has thought about every day for the past seven years, always asking the same things, "why couldn't it be me?" "why did she have to die?" "what did she do to deserve it?" but Cat would never get an answer, no matter how bad she wanted one, she never fully understood just why Tori had been the one to die, her father would never tell her the truth.

"Cat?" Jade asked, snapping her from the mind consuming thoughts crashing around.

Rick stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder, Cat swiftly slapped his hand away.

"He was... released?" she asked, in a way, almost hoping they'd tell her he wasn't, but she knew they were just going to repeat themselves

"Yes Miss Valentine"

Cat stood up and threw the half full glass of water on the table across the room, making it smash against the wall.

"How can you let that man walk out?!" Cat screamed.

"After what he did?! after he killed my best friend?!" Cat was fuming, she had wanted nothing more than to get payback on behalf of her best friend, but she never wanted him to get out of rotting in prison, she figured it was the next best thing to her killing him and taking his place in there.

"Cat calm down" Andre tried to reason, but Cat was having none of it, she slammed her fists down on the table, demanding an answer.

"Miss Valentine he served the full 7 year sentence, his behaviour inside was good, he didn't cause any trouble, maybe he's changed"

"No!" Cat shouted again, "people like him never change! this is a man who battered me from pillar to post every day for most of my life!"

The sound of Cat's daughter crying echoed from upstairs, "I'll go" Jade said, and quickly left the room, making her way upstairs to Tori's bedroom.

She opened it and saw the girl sitting up in her bed, clearly scared by the shouting coming from downstairs.

She went over and sat down on the bed, opening her arms for Tori to shuffle over and lean into her.

"Why is my mummy shouting?" she asked, wiping her tears on Jade's jacket at the same time.

"Mummy just... got angry that's all"

"Is it because of Tori?" she asked, not meaning herself, but the girl she was named after by Cat.

"No, mummy just got a little angry, she hurt her toe, she'll be okay" Jade used her thumb to wipe Tori's eyes.

"Was Tori mean to my mum?" she asked, Jade felt a lump in her throat, she didn't really like talking about Tori, remembering her was always so hard for Jade, and she'd pretty much always break down in tears every time.

"No, Tori was never mean to your mum, Tori was the nicest girl anyone could ever know, she was always so kind, and so giving, she would never do anything to upset Cat" Jade quickly wiped away a tear before it could run down her face.

"It's okay to cry, my mummy cries when she misses Tori too"

Another tear fell from Jade's eye, and this time Tori put her hand up and used her thumb to wipe it, the same way Jade had done before.

"Come on you need to get back to sleep now sweetheart, you want me to read you a story?"

"Can you sing for me?" Tori asked, "it's how mummy always helps me get to sleep"

"Of course I can"

Jade took a breath, and started singing a few lines of the song that got Tori into Hollywood Arts, that night when she filled in for her sister in the big showcase and stole the show, Make It Shine.

"You don't... have to...be afraid to put your dream in action" Jade sang softly, memories of Tori flying around in her head.

The very first time she saw her, rubbing coffee off of Beck's shirt.

She remembered how mean she was to Tori that day, pouring coffee in her hair and making the poor girl run out of class in tears.

"You're never... gonna fade you'll be the main attraction"

_"I could never do that to a friend"_

_"Or even to you"_

Jade remembered the night of the Platinum Music Awards, the night she almost stole the biggest moment of Tori's life, but she couldn't do it, because even though the two may not have been the bestest of friends, over time they had grown to, at least tolerate each other, no matter how bad Jade would never want to admit it, that "Vega" had got into her heart.

"In my victory... just remember me..."

"When I make it, shine..."

When Jade looked up, Tori was sound asleep, tears were streaming from Jade's eyes, she turned to walk out and saw Beck standing in the door way.

He had tears in his eyes too, and neither of them had to say another word, they just wrapped their arms around each other and hugged, as tight as they could.

Downstairs Cat was still furious.

"What if he comes for me again? or worse, what if he touches my little girl?"

"We'll do everything we can to make sure that wont happen Miss Valentine"

"Where is he now?"

"We don't know, but we do have a message from him to you"

One of the two officers handed Cat an envelope.

She opened it, and all it said was.

"We need to talk"

* * *

**That's that for now :)**

**I hope you enjoyed reading it, and I'll try to get the next chapter up soon**

**Please leave a review down below if you liked it :)**


	3. Memories

**Hey :) **

**I would have updated sooner, but I didn't really have the time, and now that I do, I'll do just that **

**Thank you to those who reviewed.**

**I hope you enjoy**

* * *

**Aftermath**

"We need to talk"

"We"

"Need"

"To"

"Talk"

Those four words, meaningless alone, but put together in that way, have the power to make any human remember even the slightest thing they may have done wrong.

These four words kept Cat up all night, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't fall asleep, her mind was too busy drumming up a million scenarios of what would happen when the pair had their "talk"

The sun rose, and Cat had finally managed to get to sleep, just a half hour before the alarm went off, Rick shut it off and looked at Cat, he knew she had had a rough night and could probably do with a day off, so he left her in bed and went to wake Tori to get her ready for school.

Once Cat had been woken back up, she was basically back to square one, struggling to get herself to sleep, even though she felt tired, and relaxed, she just couldn't drift out of conciousness and fall asleep.

She simply lay there, staring at the wall, watching the clock tick away, the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes turned into a few hours, Cat just lay there, perfectly still.

Her phone buzzed from the bedside table and finally made her move, she sat up slowly and looked at the screen, a message from an unknown number.

"We need to talk, now"

Cat knew who it was, she gritted her teeth, and even though she didn't want to, she replied.

"Where?"

"My house, I'll send you the address"

Cat threw her phone down, and went to get herself ready, but before she did, she went around to her boyfriends side of the bed, and looked in his bedside table, in the bottom draw, right at the back, out of sight, was a gun, she didn't really like the thought of having a gun at home, but she knew it was for protection, she took the clip out and looked to see how many bullets were inside, "two... that's enough" Cat thought out loud as she put the clip back in the gun and left it on the bed while she got ready.

About an hour later, Cat was in her car driving to where her father had told her to go, she had the gun safely concealed in the back of her jeans.

She banged on the door a few times, and waited for him to answer, she made sure the gun was out of sight.

He opened the door and invited her in, she didn't say anything, instead she just walked past him and straight into his house.

"Cat listen" he started as he followed her through, but Cat cut him off, turning back to face him.

"No! you listen, I don't know what you want, and frankly I don't care, so either you make it quick, or I walk out"

"Cat, I'm sorry"

"Oh you're sorry? oh, so that makes it okay? that brings Tori back does it?"

"No..."

"Exactly, you can't change the past, you killed her, and you should still be suffering in that prison"

"I didn't mean for her to die"

"But she did! I went to her funeral, everyone looked at me like I was responsible for it, because my dad killed her, and you know what? they're right! it was my fault" Cat clenched her fists really tightly, fighting with every last fibre of her being to keep herself from crying.

"That wasn't why I wanted to see you"

"Then what do you want?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing"

"I'm doing well enough, I can stand on my own two feet now, I have my own house, my own job, my own boyfriend, and my own daughter"

"I know, I saw her"

"When?"

"When you picked her up from school, I saw both of you"

"I never want her to see you"

"What's her name?"

"Tori"

"Can you at least give her this? from me?" he put his hand out, holding a small pink bunny.

"You... you still have that?"

"It was the first thing I ever bought for you, you may have forgotten about it but I never did, I kept it with me when I was inside, as a reminder of my little girl"

"That little girl doesn't exist anymore, but I will give it to her, if you want me to"

"You've come a long way Cat, I'm proud of you"

"Thanks..." Cat put her hand out and took the small bunny from her father, she didn't really remember it much, she only remembered seeing baby pictures of herself holding it.

"I know you wont let me see her, but I want to provide for her"

"She doesn't need your help"

"Cat, I messed up once by not being there for my own daughter, I don't want to not be there for her daughter too"

Cat paused, she had come here with one thought in mind, and that was to kill him, but something was tugging at her heart strings, something was making her think differently.

"I suppose... she should see you"

"Thank you Cat"

"But its by my rules, understood?"

"Understood"

"What I say goes, if I say bring her back at seven, she comes back at seven, not 7:01 and not 6:59, seven, you don't want to know what's going to happen if the clock gets to 7:01 and she isn't back at home"

"What?"

Cat reached behind her back and pulled the gun out, pointing it straight at his face, she could see the colour drain away, the fear in his eyes.

"You messed up with your daughter, I'm giving you another chance, you mess up again, so help me I will kill you where you stand"

He nodded his head slowly.

Cat lowered the gun, and walked past him.

"I'll let you know when you can see her" Cat didn't even stop to look back to tell him, she just walked straight down the hall, and out the door, slamming it behind her.

She went to her car and started it.

While she was driving, she couldn't help looking over to the pink bunny on the seat beside her, she couldn't believe after twenty five years, her father still had that, he had bought it the day she was born, apparently it helped her sleep at night, back when her life was, normal.

Cat stopped the car, with tears streaming down her face, she picked up the bunny and clutched it tightly against her chest, she remembered times from when she was young, carefree, and her brother was alive, and everything was perfect.

She remembered how her dad would always be there for her, tuck her in at night, read her stories, and make her special breakfasts on the weekend, but then it all changed, things got out of hand, and he started drinking.

Cat shook her head, banishing the dark thoughts from her mind, focusing on the happy ones, the same thing she used to do when she lived with her dad, she'd lay in bed, crying, clutching one of her stuffed animals, most eighteen year old girls wouldn't really have stuffed animals, but most eighteen year old girls didn't live the way Cat did.

Cat wanted nothing more than to go back to the happy times in her life, but she knew she couldn't.

She clutched the bunny tightly and kissed it before pressing it against her chest again.

"I wish I had my dad back"

* * *

**That's going to be all for this chapter :)**

**I hope you liked reading it, please leave a little something down below if you did :)**

**Until next time **


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